The Federal Government through the Pension Transitional Arrangement Department has closed about 800 fraudulent pension accounts being allegedly used to siphon
funds.
The Acting Director-General, PTAD, Murtala Oluwatoyin, stated this during a chat with journalists in Abuja on Saturday.
He said the accounts were spread across all the Deposit Money Banks in the country, adding that the case had been transferred to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission for further investigation.
The DG said since the agency had no powers to ask the banks to provide the details of those operating the closed accounts, it decided to refer the matter to the ICPC for further investigation.
Oluwatoyin stated, “We pay pensioners at the same time we pay salaries, and that is the improvement we have made so far. We are gradually reducing what we are paying as pensions and we have saved a lot of funds.
“About 800 accounts were closed in one day from various banks, which I have passed to the ICPC for further investigations, and we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ICPC and it is an ongoing process; the number will keep changing as we progress.”
He added, “We don’t have the powers to ask the banks to give us information on the operators of the accounts, and that is why we are calling on the ICPC to assist us.
“We are working with the ICPC because the ICPC has the power to ask the banks for the information, and we are sure that very soon, we will unravel those behind the accounts.”
Oluwatoyin said the agency had also recovered about N2.4bn belonging to the PTAD from 18 agencies, adding that the amount had been transferred to Treasury Single Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
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